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<section id="pygame-tutorials-camera-module-introduction">
<section id="camera-module-introduction">
<h2>Camera Module Introduction<a class="headerlink" href="#camera-module-introduction" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<dl class="docinfo field-list simple">
<dt class="field-odd">Author<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-odd"><p>by Nirav Patel</p>
</dd>
<dt class="field-even">Contact<span class="colon">:</span></dt>
<dd class="field-even"><p><a class="reference external" href="mailto:nrp&#37;&#52;&#48;eclecti&#46;cc">nrp<span>&#64;</span>eclecti<span>&#46;</span>cc</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>Pygame 1.9 comes with support for interfacing cameras, allowing you to capture
still images, watch live streams, and do some simple computer vision.  This
tutorial will cover all of those use cases, providing code samples you can base
your app or game on.  You can refer to the <a class="reference internal" href="../ref/camera.html#module-pygame.camera" title="pygame.camera: pygame module for camera use"><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">reference</span> <span class="pre">documentation</span></code></a>
for the full API.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>As of Pygame 1.9, the camera module offers native support for cameras
that use v4l2 on Linux.  There is support for other platforms via Videocapture
or OpenCV, but this guide will focus on the native module.  Most of the code
will be valid for other platforms, but certain things like controls will not
work.  The module is also marked as <strong>EXPERIMENTAL</strong>, meaning the API could
change in subsequent versions.</p>
</div>
<section id="import-and-init">
<h3>Import and Init<a class="headerlink" href="#import-and-init" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">pygame</span>
<span class="kn">import</span> <span class="nn">pygame.camera</span>
<span class="kn">from</span> <span class="nn">pygame.locals</span> <span class="kn">import</span> <span class="o">*</span>

<span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">init</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">init</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>As the camera module is optional, it needs to be imported and initialized
manually as shown above.</p>
</section>
<section id="capturing-a-single-image">
<h3>Capturing a Single Image<a class="headerlink" href="#capturing-a-single-image" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Now we will go over the simplest case of opening a camera and capturing a frame
as a surface.  In the below example, we assume that there is a camera at
/dev/video0 on the computer, and initialize it with a size of 640 by 480.
The surface called image is whatever the camera was seeing when get_image() was
called.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">cam</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Camera</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;/dev/video0&quot;</span><span class="p">,(</span><span class="mi">640</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">480</span><span class="p">))</span>
<span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">start</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="n">image</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_image</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<section id="listing-connected-cameras">
<h4>Listing Connected Cameras<a class="headerlink" href="#listing-connected-cameras" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>You may be wondering, what if we don't know the exact path of the camera?
We can ask the module to provide a list of cameras attached to the
computer and initialize the first camera in the list.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">camlist</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">list_cameras</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">camlist</span><span class="p">:</span>
    <span class="n">cam</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Camera</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">camlist</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">],(</span><span class="mi">640</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">480</span><span class="p">))</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="using-camera-controls">
<h4>Using Camera Controls<a class="headerlink" href="#using-camera-controls" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>Most cameras support controls like flipping the image and changing brightness.
set_controls() and get_controls() can be used at any point after using start().</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_controls</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">hflip</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="kc">True</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">vflip</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="kc">False</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="nb">print</span> <span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_controls</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="capturing-a-live-stream">
<h3>Capturing a Live Stream<a class="headerlink" href="#capturing-a-live-stream" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>The rest of this tutorial will be based around capturing a live stream of
images.  For this, we will be using the class below.  As described, it will
simply blit a constant stream of camera frames to the screen, effectively
showing live video.  It is basically what you would expect, looping get_image(),
blitting to the display surface, and flipping it.  For performance reasons,
we will be supplying the camera with the same surface to use each time.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">class</span> <span class="nc">Capture</span><span class="p">:</span>
    <span class="k">def</span> <span class="fm">__init__</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">640</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">480</span><span class="p">)</span>
        <span class="c1"># create a display surface. standard pygame stuff</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">set_mode</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">)</span>

        <span class="c1"># this is the same as what we saw before</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">clist</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">list_cameras</span><span class="p">()</span>
        <span class="k">if</span> <span class="ow">not</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">clist</span><span class="p">:</span>
            <span class="k">raise</span> <span class="ne">ValueError</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;Sorry, no cameras detected.&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Camera</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">clist</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">)</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">start</span><span class="p">()</span>

        <span class="c1"># create a surface to capture to.  for performance purposes</span>
        <span class="c1"># bit depth is the same as that of the display surface.</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">surface</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Surface</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="p">)</span>

    <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_and_flip</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
        <span class="c1"># if you don&#39;t want to tie the framerate to the camera, you can check</span>
        <span class="c1"># if the camera has an image ready.  note that while this works</span>
        <span class="c1"># on most cameras, some will never return true.</span>
        <span class="k">if</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">query_image</span><span class="p">():</span>
            <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_image</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">)</span>

        <span class="c1"># blit it to the display surface.  simple!</span>
        <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">blit</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">))</span>
        <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">flip</span><span class="p">()</span>

    <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">main</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
        <span class="n">going</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="kc">True</span>
        <span class="k">while</span> <span class="n">going</span><span class="p">:</span>
            <span class="n">events</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">event</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get</span><span class="p">()</span>
            <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">e</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="n">events</span><span class="p">:</span>
                <span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">e</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">type</span> <span class="o">==</span> <span class="n">QUIT</span> <span class="ow">or</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="n">e</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">type</span> <span class="o">==</span> <span class="n">KEYDOWN</span> <span class="ow">and</span> <span class="n">e</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">key</span> <span class="o">==</span> <span class="n">K_ESCAPE</span><span class="p">):</span>
                    <span class="c1"># close the camera safely</span>
                    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">stop</span><span class="p">()</span>
                    <span class="n">going</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="kc">False</span>

            <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_and_flip</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Since get_image() is a blocking call that could take quite a bit of time on a
slow camera, this example uses query_image() to see if the camera is ready.
This allows you to separate the framerate of your game from that of your camera.
It is also possible to have the camera capturing images in a separate thread,
for approximately the same performance gain, if you find that your camera does
not support the query_image() function correctly.</p>
</section>
<section id="basic-computer-vision">
<h3>Basic Computer Vision<a class="headerlink" href="#basic-computer-vision" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>By using the camera, transform, and mask modules, pygame can do some basic
computer vision.</p>
<section id="colorspaces">
<h4>Colorspaces<a class="headerlink" href="#colorspaces" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>When initializing a camera, colorspace is an optional parameter, with 'RGB',
'YUV', and 'HSV' as the possible choices.  YUV and HSV are both generally more
useful for computer vision than RGB, and allow you to more easily threshold by
color, something we will look at later in the tutorial.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Camera</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">clist</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;RGB&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_rgb.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_rgb.jpg" />
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Camera</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">clist</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;YUV&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_yuv.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_yuv.jpg" />
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">camera</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Camera</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">clist</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">],</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">&quot;HSV&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_hsv.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_hsv.jpg" />
</section>
<section id="thresholding">
<h4>Thresholding<a class="headerlink" href="#thresholding" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>Using the threshold() function from the transform module, one can do simple
green screen like effects, or isolate specifically colored objects in a scene.
In the below example, we threshold out just the green tree and make the rest
of the image black.  Check the reference documentation for details on the
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/transform.html#pygame.transform.threshold" title="pygame.transform.threshold"><code class="xref py py-func docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">threshold</span> <span class="pre">function</span></code></a>.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">thresholded</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">surface</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">Surface</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">size</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_image</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">transform</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">threshold</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">thresholded</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">255</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),(</span><span class="mi">90</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">170</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">170</span><span class="p">),(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_thresholded.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_thresholded.jpg" />
<p>Of course, this is only useful if you already know the exact color of the object
you are looking for.  To get around this and make thresholding usable in the
real world, we need to add a calibration stage where we identify the color of an
object and use it to threshold against.  We will be using the average_color()
function of the transform module to do this.  Below is an example calibration
function that you could loop until an event like a key press, and an image of
what it would look like.  The color inside the box will be the one that is
used for the threshold.  Note that we are using the HSV colorspace in the below
images.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">calibrate</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
    <span class="c1"># capture the image</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_image</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">)</span>
    <span class="c1"># blit it to the display surface</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">blit</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="c1"># make a rect in the middle of the screen</span>
    <span class="n">crect</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">draw</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">rect</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">255</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">145</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">105</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="mi">4</span><span class="p">)</span>
    <span class="c1"># get the average color of the area inside the rect</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ccolor</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">transform</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">average_color</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="n">crect</span><span class="p">)</span>
    <span class="c1"># fill the upper left corner with that color</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">fill</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ccolor</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">flip</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_average.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_average.jpg" />
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">transform</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">threshold</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">thresholded</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ccolor</span><span class="p">,(</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">),(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),</span><span class="mi">2</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_thresh.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_thresh.jpg" />
<p>You can use the same idea to do a simple green screen/blue screen, by first
getting a background image and then thresholding against it.  The below example
just has the camera pointed at a blank white wall in HSV colorspace.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">calibrate</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
    <span class="c1"># capture a bunch of background images</span>
    <span class="n">bg</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="p">[]</span>
    <span class="k">for</span> <span class="n">i</span> <span class="ow">in</span> <span class="nb">range</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">):</span>
      <span class="n">bg</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">append</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_image</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">background</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="c1"># average them down to one to get rid of some noise</span>
    <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">transform</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">average_surfaces</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">bg</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">background</span><span class="p">)</span>
    <span class="c1"># blit it to the display surface</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">blit</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">background</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">flip</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_background.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_background.jpg" />
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">transform</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">threshold</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">thresholded</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">255</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),(</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">),(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),</span><span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">background</span><span class="p">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_green.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_green.jpg" />
</section>
<section id="using-the-mask-module">
<h4>Using the Mask Module<a class="headerlink" href="#using-the-mask-module" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>The stuff above is great if you just want to display images, but with the
<a class="reference internal" href="../ref/mask.html#module-pygame.mask" title="pygame.mask: pygame module for image masks."><code class="xref py py-mod docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">mask</span> <span class="pre">module</span></code></a>, you can also use a camera as an
input device for a game.  For example, going back to the example of
thresholding out a specific object, we can find the position of that object and
use it to control an on screen object.</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">get_and_flip</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="p">):</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">cam</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">get_image</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">)</span>
    <span class="c1"># threshold against the color we got before</span>
    <span class="n">mask</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">mask</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">from_threshold</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">ccolor</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="mi">30</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">blit</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">snapshot</span><span class="p">,(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="c1"># keep only the largest blob of that color</span>
    <span class="n">connected</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">mask</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">connected_component</span><span class="p">()</span>
    <span class="c1"># make sure the blob is big enough that it isn&#39;t just noise</span>
    <span class="k">if</span> <span class="n">mask</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">count</span><span class="p">()</span> <span class="o">&gt;</span> <span class="mi">100</span><span class="p">:</span>
        <span class="c1"># find the center of the blob</span>
        <span class="n">coord</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">mask</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">centroid</span><span class="p">()</span>
        <span class="c1"># draw a circle with size variable on the size of the blob</span>
        <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">draw</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">circle</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="bp">self</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">255</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">),</span> <span class="n">coord</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="nb">max</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nb">min</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="mi">50</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="n">mask</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">count</span><span class="p">()</span><span class="o">/</span><span class="mi">400</span><span class="p">),</span><span class="mi">5</span><span class="p">))</span>
    <span class="n">pygame</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">display</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">flip</span><span class="p">()</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<img alt="../_images/camera_mask.jpg" class="trailing" src="../_images/camera_mask.jpg" />
<p>This is just the most basic example.  You can track multiple different colored
blobs, find the outlines of objects, have collision detection between real life
and in game objects, get the angle of an object to allow for even finer control,
and more.  Have fun!</p>
</section>
</section>
</section>
</section>


<br /><br />
<hr />
<a href="https://github.com/pygame/pygame/edit/main/docs/reST/tut/CameraIntro.rst" rel="nofollow">Edit on GitHub</a>
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